Lady Macbeth In Scotland, Pa
...Many people lose sight of life’s natural wonders and become engrossed by greed as they yearn to acquire and maintain an affluential reputation. This central theme is apparent in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, which is further translated into Billy Morrissett’s Scotland, PA. Although Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s desire to “achieve absolute monarchical authority is absurdly reduced to the McBeths’ desperate bourgeois ambitions,” in Scotland, PA, the main concept remains intact (Hoefer 154). Essentially, Macbeth is transformed from a tragic play about the uncontrollable desperation for monarchial power kindled by a prophesy to a modern movie about a low class couple who, despite their patient efforts, cannot seem to achieve the success they desire and are therefore driven to violence and thievery to obtain it. Within the play the Macbeth’s commence a bloody trail of deaths with the murder of King Duncan, which initiates a series of events leading to false accusations and the unnecessary deaths of those that were once friends to the Macbeths. Scotland, PA presents this plot in a completely different context while maintaining the general story. The movie begins in much of the same manner with the murder of Norm Duncan. This is followed by immediate glory for Pat and Mac, as they become new owners of the restaurant, although they eventually become paranoid and commit many different acts in an attempt to cover their trail. As the story progresses, one can obviously recognize the undoing of Pat and Joe McBeth. The purpose of this film is to portray Mac and his wife as victims rather than villains, which can be discerned by tracing the evolution of Pat McBeth through the film and comparing her actions and reactions to those of Lady Macbeth.
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is seen in the beginning as very bold and ambitious. She does not believe that her...
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